Mushroom picking is one of the most popular autumn activities in Lithuania. Although gathering delicacies could be a long and tiring process, this season’s yield is the most generous in years.
Irena lives in Varėna, a city in southern Lithuanian Dzūkija region, which is the top mushroom picking destination in the country. The woman has been going to the forest every morning for about a week now, bringing home baskets filled with penny buns, the most valuable mushroom species that grows in Lithuania.
Irena said that it is usually difficult to find locations where penny buns grow, but this year these mushrooms appear everywhere. This season’s yield will be enough not only for cooking but also for marinating and drying mushrooms for winter, the woman said.
According to experienced foresters, penny bun growing season has only started and will last longer than usual. The mushrooms grow when the weather is rainy and nights are warm, so the conditions this year are favourable.
“Last year, I found maybe 10 penny buns during the entire season. This year, I have gathered almost 500 in four days,” Antanas Senūta, an experienced mushroom picker, said.
A kilo of penny buns could cost 10 to 20 euros in a market. Meanwhile, special shops that buy mushrooms for resale pay four euros a kilo for good quality penny buns and one euro for the worm-eaten ones.
But according to forest managers, too many people coming to mushroom hunt at once could be harmful to nature. They encourage mushroom enthusiasts to be responsible and not to park cars on the grass.
“We have noticed, however, that people started leaving less litter next to their cars and became more considerate of the environment,” Laimius Simanavičius, a forest manager, said.
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